Don’t fear the nitrates

[Deleted member 27248]

I just wanted to make a quick post about a recent time my nitrates got up past 300ppm.this was verified on 3 different tests.

My tank was new and I had zero nutrients, so I started dosing nitrate and phosphate. I would dose let’s say 5ppm daily, and the next day I was down to zero.my chaeto was growing, my corals were swollen, and my skimmer was working great. So I kept dosing and even raised the dose to 10ppm daily.

Unfortunately, I was using API test kits, which I was not getting accurate readings on.

after dilution and several tests kits I found my nitrates were over 300ppm and phosphate was .25

But amazingly my tank had ZERO algae in display, only macro in sump. The only reason I knew something was wrong, was that a small frogspawn coral I had, had polyp bail out. I ended up doing 5 50% water changes over 5 days.

In summation, I believe these corals are a lot hardier than we think. If you think you’re nitrates are high, think again. Don’t panic and get them down to the level you want.

current tank stats

90 display
40 sump
Nitrate 15ppm
Phosphate .07
Calcium 450
Alk 8.5
Magnesium 1500

Pictures were taken in October when nitrates were over 300ppm

 

[MadReefer]

Agree. With the move nitrates were 100. Between water changes and NoPoX dosing down to 40.

 

[Deleted member 27248]

Agree. With the move nitrates were 100. Between water changes and NoPoX dosing down to 40.

I was going to use nopox l, but once my levels were down to about 50, I let it go down by itself. Refugium working wonders down there! Went from 50ppm to 15ppm in 2 weeks.

 

[MadReefer]

Unfortunately, can't fit a fuge in my sump.

 

[Deleted member 27248]

Unfortunately, can't fit a fuge in my sump.

Ah bummer...homemade sump or not? Chaeto reactors work good as welll I hear.

 

[deepblue68]

Agree. With the move nitrates were 100. Between water changes and NoPoX dosing down to 40.

Just keep testing your nitrates i use nopox and I got really low on nitrates almost zero out and I actually dose nitrates to bring them back up slowly over time. Nopox works very well and if you dont adjust your dosing if required you can go way low.ime

 

[DangerDave]

Unfortunately, can't fit a fuge in my sump.

Could you use a chaeto reactor?

 

[MadReefer]

Not sure, depends on size and placement.

 

[Salted]

Guess I’ll stop being so concerned that my nitrates are in the 40-50 range. I’m about to add a sump with a refugium in the next few weeks or so. Everything ing the tank looks great, both fish and corals. I’ve added matrix to my existing canister filter and have been dozing nopox but no real change in nitrates. I’m sure my heavy feeding hand isn’t helping but my fish are fat, healthy looking and energetic so why starve them.

 

[Wilson]

Not sure, depends on size and placement.

Got a chaeto reactor if you're interested. Never touched water.

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